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Date of Death: December 4, 2004 Memorial services for Thomas Cooper, 90, of Jefferson will be 11:00am Wednesday, December 8, 2004 at First Presbyterian Church, Jefferson with interment at the Jefferson Cemetery .
Thomas Olson Cooper was born August 2, 1914 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was the son of Thomas Arthur Cooper and Anna Helena Olson Cooper. Tom attended grammar schools in Joliet, Illinois, Mobile, Alabama and Shreveport, Louisiana and graduated from Byrd High School, Shreveport, Louisiana on May 20, 1929. He attended University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota and graduated from Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana on July 29, 1934. Tom moved to Minneapolis, MN shortly thereafter and took post graduate work at the University. He stated a career as grain bookkeeper with Harris, Upham & Co. Tom joined the Northwest Bancorporation (now Norwest) in 1936 in the credit department under the direction of W. Harold Brenton. On October 27, 1940, Tom married Lois Caroline Graham in her family home in Ottumwa, Iowa. In the fall of 1941, Tom became a junior officer of the Jefferson State Bank of Jefferson, Iowa. Tom enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in December 1941 with the rating of Radio Technician Second Class. He served in the Pacific Theater with a radar countermeasures unit and was discharged as Radar Technician First Class from Camp Farragut in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in December 1945. Tom was cashier of Warren County Bank and Trust Co., Indianola, Iowa until May 10, 1947. He organized a new bank (Wright County State Bank) at Clarion, Iowa and was managing officer with the title of executive vice president. He transferred to Jefferson State Bank in November of 1950 and was made president of that bank in 1957. He moved to Des Moines, Iowa in October 1968 to be president of the South Des Moines National Bank. He also served as vice president and director of Brenton Banks, Inc. from the date of its inception in 1947. Tom was a director of Brenton Banks in Indianola, Clarion, Emmetsburg, Jefferson, and Des Moines. He retired in 1982 as chairman of the board of the South Des Moines National Bank and wintered in Arizona and spent summers in Jefferson until late 1986 when he and Lois moved to Sun City, Arizona on a year around basis. On March 1, 1992, Tom and Lois moved back to Jefferson, Iowa and made Jefferson their permanent home. Tom was active in various churches and served as elder in the Jefferson, Des Moines, and Sun City Presbyterian churches. He taught an adult Sunday school class in Jefferson for 15 years and was clerk of Session for the church. He served as clerk of Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Sun City, Arizona from January 1, 1987 to January 1, 1989. Tom served in many civic organizations including the Jefferson Industries, Inc., and chambers of commerce in Jefferson, Clarion, and Des Moines. He was a member of Rotary Club and was president of the Jefferson and Des Moines clubs. Tom served on the Jefferson Library Board, Jefferson Airport Commission and helped organize and direct a Boy Scout group in Jefferson. He was active in the American Bankers Association and was chairman of its Country Bank Operations Committee. Tom also served six years on the ABA Government Borrowing Committee. He graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1956 and served on the faculty for seven years thereafter. He graduated from the School of Financial Public Relations in 1953 and was active in the Financial Public Relations Association in Chicago, Illinois and was the director of its School of Financial Public Relations and Northwestern University. Tom taught at the School of Banking at University of Wisconsin for several years. He was active on the Board of Directors of the University of Dubuque for a number of years and was made Life Member in 1983. He served as Treasurer of the Sun City Community Fund from March 1988 to January 1992. Tom became a trustee of the Dora Mahanay Education Trust in 1962 and maintained the records of the Trust and served continuously as trustee until 1987, then continued keeping the records of the trust. Thomas Olson Cooper died December 4, 2004 at the Greene County Medical Center. He was 90 years of age. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Lois who died April 26, 2004; a daughter, Susan Gayle Cooper who died at childbirth on November 24, 1942; and a sister, Frances Louise Cooper who died June 26, 1956. Memorials are suggested to the Greene County Medical Center Foundation.
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